The IMRF’s Basic Rescue Boat Operator Manual, together with the accompanying Rescue Boat Operator Search Cards, provides recommended best practice for any organisation looking at introducing basic training in Rescue Boat SAR operations.

Following the recent Basic Rescue Boat Operator Manual webinar (listen again here - Members Only), we asked Engineer Ibrahim Shettima, Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), how his organisation uses the IMRF Basic Rescue Boat Operator Manual.

Just like other SAR organisations, regular and effective training is a key part of maintaining our specialist team, building our expertise and enhancing our ability to respond to an incident.

We organise training for our staff in the last week of every month, it will generally be a table-top exercise focused on communications, SAR operations and mass evacuation techniques, but once a quarter we will organize a live drill to put all the theory we’ve learnt into action.

The IMRF Basic Rescue Boat Operator Manual is an important part of our regular training activities and we keep copies of the manual and Search Check Cards as handy guides in all our SAR boats.  The parts we refer to most are the chapters on ‘Distress and communications’ and ‘SAR information and planning’ simply because these are core elements we handle every single day.  The manual guides us to ensure that we are handling all of our operations in line with industry best practice.

The Search Check Cards are particularly useful because they offer such a simple step by step guide, during any SAR operation and the SMEAC briefing supports the success of the operation and describes the SAR patterns.

I would thoroughly recommend the manual and the Search Check Cards to any other SAR organisation – whatever their stage of development.  It really is just like a simplified IAMSAR manual, covering in a step-by-step manner exactly what you need to know when handling a rescue boat.

I know the Manual is reviewed regularly and updated to ensure it’s as relevant and current as possible, in the next review, following the global pandemic I think it would be useful to cover the procedures that should be followed when conducting a MEDICO or MEDIVAC operation.

To download your copy of the IMRF Basic Rescue Boat Manual, please go to the “Members Only” section of our website.

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Click here to read more about the IMRF Basic Rescue Boat Manual.